Weather: Weird end to a Weird Month. Been in the low 50s and WINDY. Having intermittent rain. Just odd. Next week? Here’s the snow we’ve been not seeing. Hello December.

Yep. Got to 50 K. Validated and everything. And it’s a giant mess. Sigh. Well, I was mostly aiming just to get the structure of the thing in place. I think I will feel better once all the jagged edges are better stitched together.

November 2016 has been, for lack of a better phrase, a bit of a dumpster fire. Between this clown car of an election and the crazy series of events that seems to be following and the added deaths that the bloody Grim Reaper that is 2016 has racked up…I’ll be more than happy to see the backside of this year.

I found that I’ve spent more time away from social media and the news, and truth be told, I feel better mentally for it.

Probably a good sign that I need to get out of the online cesspool and back into life again. Studio time has been languishing for no good reason. Creative deep diving always makes me feel better, so I may need to take a moment and analyze why I’ve not been indulging.

I read the below post recently and it’s served as a bit of perspective and calming reassessment of all things that are currently giving me indigestion. Read it and take a moment to breathe. And consider all the ways there are to battle cruelty and darkness and ugliness in this current time. Not all battles require fists and angry retorts. Sometimes our energy is better spent facing down the awful with overwhelming beauty and compassion. Shame the terrible venom by drowning it out with cavernous shining art and creative output. There is plenty of room in the battle for both the hard and soft approach. (Keeps ’em off balance.😉 )

Bullies and demagogues have no defense against those who refuse to engage and step around them. Sometimes we shine a light on dark things to make sure they don’t take root. Other times we starve them of attention so they wither on the vine. Both methods are effective and they work in concert beautifully.

Art can be reactive and proactive. Do both. Do it all.

Words can be weapons, sharp and subtle in the same breath. Images can soothe and disturb and incite and reassure. Music can inspire or commiserate. Bring all your emotions and stories and statements out.

Weather- Why does it feel so much colder than it actually is? Upper 20s when we walked out the door this morning, and it’s barely nudging the 40s now. Feels sub arctic. No snow yet and none to be seen in the forecast. But stranger things have happened.

Work again took up a big chunk of my writing time today. Still, I find that sometimes the pressure of less time can get the ball rolling.

The title of today’s blog best describes how sometimes the wheels go off the writing wagon and you end up far afield from where you intended. I used to refer to this also as the muses getting drunk and taking the steering wheel away.

The good news is sometimes it leads to interesting places that allow you to rethink some aspects of your story. Sometimes the weeds can produce some better paths and more colorful accents. However, sometimes all getting off the beaten path can do is just bog you down. It’s important to know when your being creative and when your just filling the page with words that sound great but ultimately take your story so far from where you intended you have to stop and take the wheel again.

So far, getting off the path has led to some good possibilities. Nothing that has made me want to stray too far from where I’m going. I’m a pantser by nature, but I do try to keep some plot in mind to rein in the flightiest of fancies.

Link for the day: (I know I link a lot of stuff from Chuck Wendig, but I love his verbiage, profane as it can be. Plus, he knows his shit.)

Weather: Still cold- low 30s- but much less windy and the snow seems to have gone. Still, finally feels like November.

Thanksgiving is on the near horizon, and Christmas is not long after. This year has been mostly a garbage fire. Not that my personal life has been awful, far from it. But it seems the world at large has been fracturing, with long simmering resentments bubbling up and taking form in surprising and chaotic ways. We’ve lost a lot of touchstone people that especially people my age (late 40s) were hit hard by- Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Alan Rickman, the list goes on and on. I know that a lot of this is to be expected- as we age, those we look up to or are inspired by, age accordingly. Some will leave us sooner than we are ready to let them go. Doesn’t make the hurt any less.

NaNo has been harder this year for me than last. Didn’t help that there was a contentious (she said, in vast understatement) election in the first week of writing, and between the weather, and potential jury duty, and imminent family gatherings, and the usual financial roller coaster, the word making was a little derailed.

But I’ve realized in the past week that as the particular overwhelming signal to noise disruption happening on social media required me to step away a bit, I’m starting to get back in touch with life again. I hadn’t realized how much the politics and associated strong emotions had sucked me in. The slow drowning effect, I suppose. Didn’t realize I wasn’t breathing or underwater until my health, both mental and physical started taking a hit. So I extricated myself as best I could. The concerns I had before the election are still there, but the associated din of outrage and blame and finger-pointing and gloating are not washing over me like before. I’m trying to take the “Make Good Art” mantra to heart.

Do not take this as me giving up fighting for things I believe need fighting for, but understand that existing in a constant state of rage and fear does not make for clear thinking or good judgment. I’m no anarchist. I don’t believe that burning things to the ground is necessarily the way to fix what’s broken. Yes, it requires an unvarnished look at how we got here, but I also believe that things can be fixed by a complicated combination of compassion, realistic assessment and taking a long view. By finding allies with common goals. By not demonizing those who would help us, though they might not 100% agree with us. By not letting things slide because they are difficult. And most of all, by not enabling bad behavior or derailing conversations because it’s “not going to change” or “it’s been going on for a long time”.

I’ve said many times before, I am not a fan of nostalgia. I find it annoying and unrealistic and cherry-picking, because the past is the past for reason. Yes, there were good things, but there were also awful things and you don’t get to gloss over the bad because the good things make you wistful. Too easy and lazy by a long stretch. I’m more for grappling with the issues we have today, so we can entrench the advances we made and work on the new challenges so we can move forward. I mentioned to a friend today that part of our problem now is that we are just far enough away in time from things like the Depression, WWII or even Cold War eras that the current generation has no real connection to that time. It’s stuff in history books or things our grandparents talk about. (In my case, parents). We look around and say things are horrific, and by some measure, they are. But we are still nowhere near the bottom of the barrel of the Dust Bowl, or rationing, or the Draft, or being wiped out by the flu. (1918. Look it up.) We need to deal with our current problems, but we also need to get a grip. Worse things have been lived through and worse things have been conquered. Which should be a MOTIVATION not a way to diminish our worries or challenges, mind you.

(I see too many people minimizing others pain by saying others have it worse. That’s cruel, reductive and not at all helpful. Be compassionate or be silent.)

All the same, I think our historical challenges can help us face our current challenges a little more clearly if we put them in perspective.

All of this musing leads to story compilation. Taking a long view of history and asking a lot of what if questions when turning that view toward the future is how ideas come to mind. Will those ideas fix real world problems? Who knows. Creativity is not limited to fictional or artistic outlets. It’s something I think we’ve lost a bit over the past few years. We do a lot of re-sharing of others ideas, images and creative output, but I think we’ve diminished a little by not putting our own creative output out there as well. Happy accidents and half-baked ideas can lead to solutions. Maybe not in themselves, but by providing component pieces to foster discussion or to build upon by others with their own pieces to the puzzle. Collaboration has taken a big hit of late, whether due to fear of ridicule or fear of having one’s own ideas co-opted by someone else or losing one’s sole claim to glory, who knows?

Sorry for the woolgathering here, but these things have been weighing heavily on me lately and I’ve been too scattered to compile them into something coherent. I suppose I need to take my own advice and start suggesting ideas and putting my creative output into the stream and see what floats and what sinks. Failure isn’t fatal. It’s just an idea that didn’t work. Trying something new that builds on what didn’t work, or just making another attempt from a different launch pad is not a waste of time. That’s how most things result in a success. We talk way too much. We need to do more. Discussion is fine, but ONLY discussion results in little. Awareness is good, but awareness alone changes little. No one is asking you to fix EVERYTHING or even to solve anything on your own. Don’t let people make you think that all the challenges we face are a zero sum game, that by focusing on one problem, you are ignoring others. You can’t spread yourself that thin. But you can contribute. You can lend a hand. Make your voice heard. Create memorable images. Help motivate others. Just my 2 cents on all this craziness.

Weather: Went from the upper 60s to low 30s overnight. Gale force winds today, with rain/snow/ice mix. The lakeshore is howling at us. Seems apropos.

Here’s a great shot of the lake today, to give you scope. (Credit Joshua Nowicki)

Have been writing, but haven’t been updating. Things in RL have been interfering with that. Also, mentally I’m kind of drained. Actual stress and online stress (mostly political related) have reached fever pitch, so I stepped away for a bit. Work and family and everyday stuff seemed like more workable stress sources.

So, back on the writing horse, and getting a story epiphany this morning, which is always helpful. It relates to how the villain of the piece is portrayed. His motivations and arc finally fell into place. I knew what his actions would result in already, but getting to those results was a little murky. Captain Exposition was in control of the car again and things were starting to head into the weeds. Needed to get my authorial machete out and clear the path again.

Here’s some apropos writing advice from the House of Wendig:
(considering I’ve had the soundtrack on a loop today. Because REASONS.)

Weather- Chilly, although the sun warmed us up to about 60º today. Not for long, as the 30s are popping up in the 10 day forecast. November is finally here. A bit of rain for Election day. Temps definitely angling south.

So I’m going to refrain from discussing my reaction to the election in any great detail. I’m saddened and worried, but I have no illusions how we got here. Best write up that I’ve seen was this: Don’t Panic . There is work to do. Which I will do once I sober up and uncurl from this ball.😦

Back on topic. It’s been a week of distractions, though not all of them unpleasant. I’m smack in the middle of call ins for jury duty. (I have to check the website daily until Thursday. So far, I’ve been in the clear. Whew!) My sick kittie is doing much better now that she’s on meds for her condition. Work has been crazy, but that’s to be expected considering it’s 4th Quarter. (I work in insurance, in Employee Benefits.) The election was a big blow to the heart and stomach, which did derail my creative brain a bit. But I sat today and ground out the wordcount, albeit not my best work.

Wil Wheaton posted an excellent blog for NaNo, (Thanks to my FB friend Andrew for the link!) and I think it helps with the constant insecurity of seeking perfection on a first draft. It also has some good advice about not flagellating yourself over daily wordcount. (There’s a reason my posts have been a bit far apart. Feast or Famine, to be honest.)

Weather: Been a bit cooler; 40s to 50s through the day. Still feels like early fall and Not November.

Managed to escape Jury Duty on Monday, but the rest of the week will be a wait and see on a day by day basis. Didn’t post word count Friday because there wasn’t any. I had a fundraiser to attend at our studio so there was precious little time to write.

Saturday found me up and running early to get my cat to the vet for some bloodwork (she has hyperthyroidism) and then running other errands with the husbeast, followed by a grueling session of leaf raking. I swear the silver maples out front of our house dumped ALL THEIR LEAVES AT ONCE! We have thigh high piles of leaves in the street. (We have those awesome trucks that drive by and literally vacuum up the leaves.)

So today I crammed a lot of writing in the afternoon, hoping to make up some lost ground.

Pull quote of note:” You can only write regularly if you’re willing to write badly. You can’t write regularly and well. One should accept bad writing as a way of priming the pump, a warm-up exercise that allows you to write well.”